Best practices
- Deliver content of value on every page.
- Minimize introductory text -- get to the crucial content as soon as possible.
Tone and manner
- Copy should be written in accordance with the grammar and style rules contained in the Univesity of Minnesota Style Manual.
- Pay close attention to capitalization rules and time and date formatting.
- Copy should be concise, reader-focused, and use the active voice whenever possible. Organize content into small chunks of information, provide clear and relevant subheads, and use bulleted and numbered lists when appropriate (but only when appropriate).
- Avoid excessive scrolling; limit pages to no more than three screens. If your content scrolls beyond three screens, consider re-chunking the information.
Writing tips
Follow the University Style Manual guidelines.
Web design expert Steve Krug says that writing for the Web is like writing for billboards. Your users are driving by at 70 miles per hour and you must economize your words to reach these drive-by readers. Once users have found what they're looking for, they tend to slow down a bit and read more carefully. So, how best to serve both types of users? Write concisely but completely and consider using the strong element to highlight key concepts. But keep this highlighting short; the Web is a browsing medium and too much highlighting is just as bad as none at all. Also consider using bulleted-lists to break out key concepts.
Write short sentences and paragraphs. Short sentences written in an active voice are easy for the user to scan. Some users skim by reading the first sentence of a paragraph or section, so make sure that first sentence conveys a preview of the content in that paragraph or section.
If you find yourself wanting to print the page in order to read it completely, reconsider the structure and format of the page.
As a rule of thumb, your pages should be limited to the equivalent of one printed page. If your page is longer than that, consider breaking it into multiple pages.
Write a page title that concisely conveys the content of the page. These should make sense when viewed out-of-context. Make them functional for bookmarks and search results.
Similarly, link titles should make sense when read out-of-context. Make the link "stand-alone meaningful" when it's contained within the body of a paragraph.
Spend time carefully constructing your heads and subheads. Users scan heads to get the gist of the page's content. Front-load the beginning of your heads with the important words and concepts.
Write every page so it can stand (almost) alone. Remember that the Web is a skimming medium. Users coming to your page after skimming several other pages should be able to understand the page content after a brief skim. You may need to repeat (or better, link to) information you've explained elsewhere. For example, if your ABC section talks about XYZ extensively on a dedicated page, do not assume the user has read that page. When you mention XYZ elsewhere in the section, include a short description and link.
Understand that your writing style changes based on the type of section and type of page within that section. A landing page is usually an introduction and summary of the entire section.
In general, journalistic principles apply. Concise writing. Pyramid articles with the most important information at top. use a solid lede which gives a sense of the content or purpose of the entire page. Carefully choose your vocabulary, including keywords the reader may be skimming for, or are at the level of understanding of the reader.
Pyramid writing doesn't always work. On complex pages, for example, use subheads to separate multiple topics.
Users know how to identify hyperlinks and what to do with them. URLs are for machines, not people; there is no need to expose them. Similarly, "click here" links are unnecessary. "Click here" and exposed URL links fail to help users scan for information. Worse, these types of links don't give the user any indication of where the link leads. Make your links descriptive and accurate.
Users prefer redundant links: include them within a paragraph (called an embedded link) and repeat them in the shoulder box (called a framed link).
The three-click rule -- the belief that any piece of content should be findable within three mouse clicks -- has been found to be a myth. Shorter paths to information is always better, but don't let that govern your text.
Important: Do not use target="blank" in links to
open a new window. It's jarring to the user (users expect links to be hypertext
links and to open in the same window). More importantly, there are accessibility
issues: screen readers do not inform the user that a new window has been opened
and the Back button no longer works as expected.
E-mail newsletters
For consistency, your e-mail newsletter should have the same look and many of the same features as a CDes Web site -- including the required elements set out in the University's Publishing Information on the World Wide Web policy. It must also comply with federal spam regulations:
- Accurate "to" and "from" fields
- Descriptive subject lines
- A clear way for recipients to "opt out"
- A valid postal address for the sender
Other best practices for e-mail newsletters include:
- Providing for your readers to "opt-in" rather than "opt-out"
- Informing readers how their e-mail addresses will be used once collected
- Removing e-mail addresses that bounce in five consecutive delivery attempts
- Directing readers to online addresses rather than attaching images and documents to the e-mail
- Testing the newsletter in a variety of e-mail client applications
Unless you state otherwise in the newsletter, any tracking information you collect is governed by the University's Online Privacy Statement.
|
